Exogenesis Symphony
by Muse-icfan756
Summary: From a prompt I received. Will be in three parts. On the final leg of The Resistance tour, one of the shows is interrupted and the crowd are in danger. Matt, Dom and Chris will have the save the day. Complete.
1. Overture

**Okay, so I asked for prompts a little while ago and I got a very interesting prompt from Sophie on the 'I want to pop a hullaballoon' fanpage ;) I've mixed it around a little bit, so I hope she doesn't mind, but yeah, credit to her for the original idea and of course the usual disclaimer to say that Muse are not mine nor have I met them...unfortunately. Oh, and this will be in 3 parts, hence the title.**

Taking a breather, Matt glanced out at the crowd in front of him. Thousands of people screaming his name, begging for more songs, dancing even without the music. They should be used to it. Surely, after twelve years of playing gigs and a whole stadium tour finishing right here in Indianapolis, he would've been accustomed to it by now. They still had a couple of festivals left to play, but this was the final date of the official tour. After the handful of festivals scattering the next month, they could take a break for a little bit. Matt considered his options. Maybe he'd take a little holiday with Kate and Bing.

He smiled at the thought. Being on the last stretch of the tour, Matt had been out of the house a lot and hadn't managed to spend as much time with his new son as he'd hoped. He'd been there a lot, of course, but most of the time it had been left to Kate, or even a nanny, to look after him. It'd be fun to take them, and Ryder too, away for a while, just to relax before the band let their creative juices flow and began work on the much-anticipated new album.

Behind him, Dom took a swig of water and asked,

"How're you guys doing?" to the crowd, greeted with cheers instead of an actual answer. "You feeling good?" Matt snorted, glad he wasn't behind the microphone, and Chris shook his head and rolled his eyes. Funny.

Making his way over to the piano, Matt set his own bottle of water down on the lid beside the megaphone. He pulled out the piano stool, the height already adjusted for him, and settled down on the seat, positioning himself. He delicately poked one of the keys and received screams from the front of the crowd. Just for that one note.

He placed his fingers carefully on a group of keys and began the intro to Feeling Good, playing the notes he'd known so well for 10 years. 10 years since they'd released Origin of Symmetry, what some people considered to be their breakthrough album and arguably one of the best. It depended on who they talked to. His left hand began to play the deeper notes and he took a deep breath before singing.

"Birds flying high, you know how I feel," he sang softly into the microphone, joined, and almost overwhelmed, by the crowd. "Sun in the sky, you know how I feel. Reeds drifting on by, you know how I feel." He changed the pitches around from the recorded version as he usually did, just to vary it and make it a bit more interesting. "It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life, for me...And I'm feeling good."

And in came the bass and drums, crashing and making the loud explosions they were known so well for. Dom grinned as he hit the cymbal, Chris focussing on his fingers sliding down the fretboard as the screen behind them exploded into life, colours whirling around and showing the true wonder of their set design. It was pretty much the same for every gig, but it always looked awesome.

Matt finished the main chorus with a little jazzy piano piece and picked up his microphone, distorting and shaking his own voice as he sang. The crowd went wild again, all of them knowing the lyrics off by heart, giving Matt a strange urge to change it up for once. Maybe he'd do that. Maybe he'd figure out another lyric quickly and mix it up at the next festival, just to amuse himself with the crowd's reactions.

No. That'd be silly. Feeling Good wasn't an original song anyway. He could change his own songs, but not really somebody else's. However, as he chucked the microphone to the floor in the rush to transition smoothly into the piano again, his eyes caught a bright light above him. He frowned to himself, blaming it on a faulty stage light, and continued to play.

However, his eyes couldn't help being drawn back to it every couple of seconds. He was getting distracted too easily, the end of tour making him a bit weary. He needed to focus. Maybe they'd have to skip United States of Eurasia. He didn't think he'd be able to concentrate on the piano solo at this rate. He glanced up, hoping to signal somebody, anybody, to change the setlist, but the sudden scream from his right was far more important.

It isn't difficult to tell the difference between screams of excitement and screams of pain. In essence, they are the same. They're high-pitched, although varying between people and vocal ranges. They're wild and out of control, often un-predicted; Matt of all people would know that. But, where screams of excitement sometimes have a string of unintelligible words attached, screams of pain are the piercing sorts of scream that can halt an entire room.

And that was what they heard that evening.

There was a split second when the band stopped playing, shocked as they turned towards the bewildered crowd, and you could almost hear a pin drop. And then the panic began. Matt leapt up from the piano seat, accidentally knocking his knees on the underside of the piano and falling back down. Chris flung his bass off, the straps catching on his shoulder, as Dom stood precariously on his drum stool to see what had happened.

Flames encircled the crowd, a giant ring of fire surrounding the arena from all sides, and the crowd were right in the middle of it. Panicking, people began running to the edges of the crowd, desperate to see what was going on. Some people considered the option that the flames were just part of the stage setup, or maybe a flamethrower gone wrong, and that there was nothing to worry about. However, the band themselves knew nothing of pyrotechnics in this show. They were saving that for the festivals. At least, that was what they'd planned.

So where had the flames come from? Anna, a girl in the crowd, searched for her friend, the two of them having been parted in the mosh pit. They'd agreed before they came that they'd meet up at a certain exit after the show, but hadn't planned for any disasters. However, in her search, she glanced up and shrieked, the rest of the people surrounding her following suit until the arena echoed with shouts.

Matt swallowed nervously and looked up slowly, not entirely sure what he was going to see. However, whatever ideas ran through his head were nothing compared to what was actually present. For a few seconds he was blinded and he squinted against the harsh light, blinking rapidly to attempt to see the cause of the light. His eyes began to make out boundaries to whatever was up there and his brain whirred, thinking of all the possibilities.

Soon, the entire crowd was staring up at the sky. Dom and Chris came to stand by Matt, the tour crew peeking out from behind the stage setup to see what the fuss was about, only to stagger backwards in shock and hide behind the screen.

Suddenly, the lights from the sky switched off and the whole stage production died with it, leaving the crowd bathed in the darkness of the relatively cool evening. They fell silent; the only audible sounds were a few frightened whimpers as they stared as one into the face of danger.

There was a loud '_clunk'_ as something happened above them, the sound resonating around the arena, and Matt felt Dom's hand squeeze his, the pair glancing at each other nervously. Chris' palms were damp, and he wiped them on his trousers awkwardly, the three of them feeling rather small and insignificant when standing on stage in front of a threatened crowd. Who knew what was out there? Who knew what challenges they faced?


	2. Crosspollination

**We are the Universe came on whilst I was writing this. Seems suitable.**

"It can't be," Matt breathed, barely audible even in the silence. As he swallowed nervously, staring up at the giant disc floating in the sky, he sifted through conspiracy theories in his head, memories of people laughing at him, moments of doubt. _Aliens are real_, he told people. It was the least conspiratorial of all his theories, and millions of others agreed with him. Yet still there were a stubborn few that refused to believe there was anything else out there.

Now was the time to prove them wrong.

The entire arena was quiet, staring in shock at the ship above them. Slowly, Matt placed his free hand in his back pocket, undid the button-it needed securing else his phone would fall out on stage-and brought out his iPhone. Trying to attract as little notice as possible, which is hard when you're the frontman wearing brightly coloured trousers and standing on the main stage, he carefully opened up the right App and took a picture of the thing on the sky. However, as he pressed the capture button, the floodlights from the sky switched on again, focussing in on him and bathing him in a blinding light. His phone fell through his fingers in shock, and the delay between pressing the button and taking the picture meant that he only got a picture of the stage floor before Dom picked it up.

A booming voice echoed around the arena.

"Matthew Bellamy," it announced. Matt's heart thundered in his chest and he shuddered under all the attention. He could deal with it when he was playing, but when he was just standing there, in all his 5'7" glory, he felt like any normal guy and the old stage-fright kicked in again.

"Y-yes?" he replied, trying to keep his voice steady. Stand brave in the face of danger. Don't let these people down. This is your chance, Matt. But the aliens said nothing more. That was all the confirmation they needed. A ladder sprung out of the side of the ship and fell down towards the stage. Matt backed slowly aware, not liking where this appeared to be going. A little silvery thing was clinging on the edge of the ladder, half-human half-bug. It had scaly skin and glittered under the light. It's eyes were like flies' eyes, yet they were set in a human face. In fact, as he gaped at it whilst trying to keep his mouth closed, Matt realised that it looked, well, similar to himself. High, sharp cheekbones. Defined jawline. Small frownlines between where its eyebrows should've been but weren't. He heard a small whimper escaped him as the creature extended a long, spindly arm towards him.

Dom's hand squeezed his as they continued to move away from the thing. Dom was protesting, but Matt stood where he was, entranced by the creature. This...this was a real alien. It was here, communicating with him. It wanted him. So why wasn't he going with it? The far disappeared within a blink of his eyes and he yanked his hand free from Dom's.

"Matt?" Dom asked, anxious at his friend's behaviour. Matt continued to walk back towards the alien and held his own hand out. He felt the alien grab him and was shocked at the rough texture. For some reason he'd been expecting it to be slimy, but he guessed that was just his views being changed by pop culture. The scaly skin scratched at Matt's calloused hands and yanked him up onto the ladder. Matt's legs shook, realising that he was going to be hauled into the ship, and his fear of heights came flooding back to him. _I was tricked!_ Looking down at the alien now, it had almost a feral expression on its face. Why had he done this?

"Dom!" he cried. "Dom, help me! Dommie!" He didn't care that the whole crowd could hear him.

"Matt! I'm coming!" he heard the reply and turned his head ever so slightly to see his two friends racing towards the ladder. The disc began to move away, the screaming of the fans like a soundtrack in the background, and Matt turned his face back in, his stomach turning as he heard the chuckle of the alien below him.

Dom sprinted towards the ladder, yelling at Chris, and flung his arm out, leaping towards it just as it left the ground. He gripped it with one hand and felt his feet leave the floor. For a moment he felt weightless, and then he felt like he was about to fall, as he looked down to see Chris grabbing his legs, the pair of them holding on only by Dom's single fist. He moved his other hand up, trying to give them more balance. He wasn't sure how long his hands would hold on for, nor what the aliens planned to do. Surely they knew that they couldn't take the band back to their home planet or whatever without allowing them in their ship. They would die without oxygen.

"Chris, what are you doing, you wanker?" he shouted.

"You didn't expect me to wait down there, did you?" Chris yelled back at him. "I can't keep letting you two run off into trouble together like nothing will come from it! This time it's serious!" Dom felt a frown crease his forehead.

"What does that even mean?" Chris shook his head and Dom felt his hands slipping, his sweaty palms not doing anything to help his grip. He released one hand, wiped it on his jeans, and placed it back on the ladder. However, when he did it with the other hand, he felt spindly fingers grip his secure hand. He screeched at an embarrassingly high pitch. He wasn't Matt. He couldn't do cool things with his voice, so when something made it sound like a girl's voice, it was a crisis.

The alien grinned above him, smashing his own fist down on Dom's. Dom fought quickly to get both hands up there, but the alien simply began to use both hands at the same time, long feet curling around the bars of the ladder and holding him on. They were extremely high up now, and Dom wondered if they would be taken in. Why did they only want Matt? Couldn't he and Chris come too?

Maybe they were trying to get rid of them so they could take Matt in, but until Dom and Chris were let go of, they couldn't let the ladder back in, so they'd have to stay here. He felt Chris' grip loosen from his legs and looked down in shock, hoping his friend wasn't slipping. However, he found Chris' face to be much closer than he remembered it to be, and realised his friend was crawling up him.

"Hang on tight, buddy," Chris told him, his voice strained with effort. He felt Chris' hands on top of his own and the pair found themselves in the uncomfortable position of Chris clinging onto Dom's back.

"If we survive," Dom groaned, Chris weight hurting his back, "we never speak of this again." Chris nodded, trying to keep his body away from Dom's as he clambered up onto the main ladder. He gripped the metal rung and released himself from Dom's body, facing the alien. He socked it in the face and the alien nearly toppled off backwards, saving itself only with one foot. Chris kicked the foot.

"That's what you get for trying to kill us!" he yelled at the alien. It only took one more stamp on the alien's foot before it fell through the clouds towards the ground below. Chris gave a proud chuckle for a moment before helping Dom up onto the main ladder. Dom thanked him and they both began to climb up towards Matt, noting how sturdy the ladder was and surprised but glad that it wasn't waving around in the strong winds. They found Matt clinging on for dear life, and it took a bit of reassurance to get him to climb further up. As they neared the main part of the disc, they saw a hole open above them and headed for it instinctively. They had no idea what they would have to face, but it seemed like the safest option.

As soon as Matt was through the hole, he leapt off of the ladder and onto the metal floor of the disc, attempting to hug the ground and instead simply lying there. He closed his eyes and felt a small smile flicker at the edge of his lips. _Thank God that's over._ Dom and Chris crawled in behind him and the ladder retreated into the area before the hole closed. Matt stood up on shaky legs and the three of them observed the area.

They were entirely encased in metal, like a fancy, futuristic lift. The metal was perfectly polished, lights from the ceiling glinting off at every angle. A few corridors led off to other areas of the disc, and each was lit by a different colour. They would have to pick one, because they couldn't stay in the 'lobby' forever.

"I say we go yellow," Dom stated simply.

"Anything but red," Chris agreed. Matt pouted but said nothing, instead following them down the yellow corridor and trying to regain his dignity. It was embarrassing to have been led on so easily and then clung to the ladder like a little child, especially in front of all those people.

Halfway down the corridor, a robotic voice could be heard, announcing,

"All zetas to starboard. All zetas to starboard." The trio stood, frozen. Which way was starboard? What were they doing? Zetas? Matt's small frame shook.

"They're real," he breathed. He'd never imagined the zetas could be real. He expected life of some sort, and after seeing the alien that captured him, he knew it had to be an advanced lifeform, but a zeta? In his mind, the zetas had been incredibly dangerous. He didn't often like to be wrong, but this was one of those moments where he would be glad for it.

As they continued down the corridor at a faster pace, they heard muted chatter. Were they heading towards starboard? The corridor opened up into a small yet brightly lit area that looked like an observation platform. They headed towards the railing and carefully peered over, hoping they wouldn't be seen. Below them, thousands of people were clustered together in groups, seemingly crying out, yet they couldn't hear any of it. A sheet of glass separated them, but the band knew exactly who these people were. There were too many of them wearing Muse shirts for it to be any other option.

The crowd had been captured.

"We have to help them," Matt choked out, the guilt weighing him down. It was all his fault. If he'd been stronger and resisted the pull of the zetas, this wouldn't have happened.

"All humans to be rounded up and placed under observation," the robotic voice ordered. "Matthew Bellamy must be found. His death is imminent."

Matt didn't notice his friends gape at him. He didn't notice people in the crowd start to turn towards him. He didn't notice the robotic voice continue its orders, describing the code of conduct for the zetas, nor did he hear what they planned to do with the crowd whilst under observation. All he could hear was his own heart pounding against his ribcage, the consistent beat the only thing that reminded him he was still alive and hadn't been captured. Yet.

His brain whirred with ideas. He would have to give himself up. It was the only way. Maybe he could save the others. Maybe this would avoid killing everybody. If he only gave himself up, that could work. His death was imminent.

**Oooooh 1984 words wahah**


	3. Redemption

The band stood, staring out at the observation platform. Dom and Chris were oblivious to the turmoil n Matt's mind, instead focused on keeping him safe.

"We've got to hide him away," Chris decided, "otherwise who knows what they'll do to him?"

"But hiding isn't good enough," Dom mumbled. "We need to get off this ship before we're safe."

"And you how do you propose we do that, hmm?" Chris flung his arms out in the space around him, both acutely aware of their current position in a flying metal disc in the middle of space.

"I don't know, Chris! I'm just saying that we're in danger, Matt especially, and hiding him away isn't going to be good enough. I doubt there's even a place to hide here. Maybe we should just wait until they...take us to their planet or something." Chris sighed and rubbed the top of his head, the short hair scratching his palm. He took a deep breath and stared out at the crowd below, biting his lip.

"Where do you think they live?" Dom shrugged.

"How the hell should I know? Probably Cydonia, at this rate." They allowed themselves a brief chuckle before turning around to face Matt, hoping to discuss their plans with him. But Matthew wasn't there.

Eyes wide, the pair searched the balcony, despite there being nowhere he could've gone except for back the way they'd come. Dom tugged at his hair, creases forming on his brow.

"Matt?" Chris yelled. "Matt, mate, where are you?" He immediately felt a sharp slap on his right arm and turned to face Dom, who stood there with a stormy expression. "What?"

As soon as the word left his lips, sirens blared and the room went dark, a spotlight directed towards them. They squinted in the bright light, trying to make out shapes, and a voice called out over the wailing, "Unauthorised humans detected. Prepare scanner. Unauth-"

"Look what you did!" Dom hissed, tugging on Chris' arm as they sprinted down the corridor again.

Matt also heard the sirens and he shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut before reopening them and being blinded by crimson light. He knew he shouldn't have left them alone, but he also knew that they never would have let him do this. He was sprinting down the forbidden corridor, a natural instinct telling him that this was the way to the zetas. If he could just show himself, maybe he'd be able to save all those people at risk. All the fans, the crew, Dom and Chris...he couldn't have that guilt weighing him down for what remained of his life.

He picked up the pace, knowing that the aliens would be searching the ship for all three of them now. Clearly, they weren't interested in Dom and Chris until they made themselves known, so it wasn't a group job. For some reason, Matt had been selected to save the people. He could only hope he'd do it right.

Dom and Chris skidded into the lobby area they'd arrived in earlier and spun around, panting as they scanned the area. They both swivelled towards the red-lit corridor, glancing at each other with a knowing look, and then hurried down it. They were quite far behind Matt and knew they wouldn't be able to catch up with him, but at least they could find out where he was headed. The worst case scenario was that they'd get there too late, but they knew how much Matt liked to ramble when talking. Maybe he could buy himself some time by making conversation with the aliens.

Matt had finally reached the end of the corridor and found himself on the opposite side of the ship from where he'd been previously. He could see the platform where the three of them had stood, and from this angle he had a closer view of the panicked fans. Sinking to his knees and shuffling towards the edge, he peered over at the disorder. People were crying for help as they were shoved into lines, passing through barriers as a sample was swabbed from their skin. Where they were being held, Matt didn't know, but the menacing glints in the zetas' eyes could only mean terror.

He watched helplessly as the fans were pushed and shoved, treated like mere dirt under the strong, scaly hands of the aliens. His hopes for making peace with them were all but lost as he watched the crimes they committed right in front of his very eyes. The sound was outrageous; so many people packed into one room with only a few creatures that didn't speak their language could cause a riot, and the shouting was overwhelming. He could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on and rubbed his neck, only to freeze as a pair of hands slid over his shoulders.

"Hello there," the alien hissed, a thin tongue sliding between grey lips as it spoke. Matt struggled in its grasp, but its grip was strong as it hauled him backwards. He kicked out and tried to wrench himself away, reminding himself not to cry out. It would be no use bringing Dom and Chris into this unnecessarily. "There's no use fighting, Matthew. We have everything planned for you. Don't you worry, now."

He fell limp as the alien dragged him away, a hot tear sliding down his cheek without his permission.

Chris and Dom finally reached the end of the corridor and sprinted into the area ahead of them. Breathlessly, they peered over the balcony to the people below. Checking the platform, they could see no sign of Matt. Dom ran a hand through his hair as they wracked their brains. There wasn't even an exit; the only way to get in and out of the platform was the corridor through which they came, and they certainly hadn't spotted Matt running in the other direction.

"Maybe they caught up with him already," Dom suggested quietly. Chris shook his head.

"Even if they had, where would they have taken him? There's no way out of here." He glanced down at the commotion below, but there was no sign of Matthew.

"What do they want from him? I don't understand, Chris!"

"I've got no idea, either. I just...we really need to find him, Dom. We can't lose our best friend."

He steeled himself and then stalked over to the metal walls of the platform, running his hands along them and searching for grooves, something in the wall that might suggest a hidden passage. Dom immediately joined in, hands roving the surface in the search for an uneven texture, a hidden button or something along those lines. Anything that might give a clue as to where Matt was.

Just on the other side of the metal wall, Matt was being dragged down yet another corridor. This one was dimly lit, making his head slightly hazy. His brain willed his eyes to close, but his inner defense mechanisms were telling him to memorise the way in. Some optimistic part of him was still hoping that he might be able to escape.

The prospects were not looking good, however. They passed several closed doors as the zeta dragged Matt further and further from his friends. A few muffled noises could be heard, presumably from high technology equipment whirring in the hidden rooms. Matt swallowed nervously and surveyed the area with wide eyes, ignoring the embarrassing wetness on his cheeks.

The alien kicked a door open all of a sudden and hauled Matt into it, before slamming it shut behind them. The sound of a lock clicking echoed in the silence and Matt was truly trapped. The alien left him sprawled on the floor as it went to check on a computer in the corner of the room. Matt lifted his head to look around. The first thing his eyes caught sight of was a large table in the middle of the room, almost like an over-sized examination table. There were no signs of lasers, knives or anything typically used by sci-fi movie villains to kill him, but the relief did little to calm his wild pulse.

C'mon, Matt, do something!

"Excuse me?" he began, clearing his throat to get rid of the ever-present lump. The alien froze and turned slowly towards him, its multi-faceted eyes making Matt feel like he was being scrutinised by millions of cameras all at once. The effect was mind-numbing.

"Yes?" it hissed, causing shivers to run down Matt's spine.

"Where am I?" The alien appeared to frown, its face contorted.

"The examination room." Just like in the doctor's surgery. Matt tried to convince himself he had nothing to be afraid of, but it wasn't working particularly well. The questions started to spill out, startling the silver-skinned creature.

"Who are you? What do you want from me? Why are you doing this?"

Its mouth almost seemed to curl up into a smile, but it now appeared even more frightening than usual. Matt shrunk away, wishing he could blend in with the cool linoleum floor beneath him.

"I am a zeta. I figured you would already know that. Not too sharp, are we?" It cackled menacingly, the harsh sound grating against Matt's ears. "And you already know; we're out to kill you."

"But why?" Matt demanded. "What did I ever do to you?"

"You're a danger to our society. You're the one we need to remove to stay concealed. You were revealing so much information about us to the people that we knew we have to get rid of you. Although, now that you're here, we'd like to study you. You seem like a fascinating human being."

Matthew scowled, but there was nothing he could do.

Chris had now resorted to banging on the metal until the sounds rang out all over the ship. He knew that the zetas would be after them, but he no longer cared. Maybe they'd lead him to Matt.

Dom was meticulously retracing his steps, desperate to find that one way into the metal wall.

"There's got to be something! Otherwise we're doomed," he muttered to himself. "Oh God, we're doomed. We're doomed, we're doomed, Chris, we're doomed. It's all over."

"Shut up, Dom."

"This is the end. We'll die here. We'll never make music again, never see Matt again. It's the end of the world."

"Dom, shut the hell up! I'm trying to listen here." Dom paused his whining and cocked his ears, watching as Chris pressed himself against the metal wall. A quiet sound could be heard that seemed startlingly familiar...

"Matt!" Chris exclaimed. "That's Matt! Can you hear it, Dom?" A high-pitched scream could be heard through the metal wall, and Dom knew that Matt must've been screaming at the top of his lungs to get it heard this far. He whimpered.

"Sounds like he's in a lot of pain."

"Or maybe he's trying to give us a message. Tell us where he's at."

"But this doesn't help us get in, does it?"

Chris sighed, and then he had an idea. Pulling Dom back by one arm until they were pressed against the balcony, he whispered his plan. On the count of three, the pair raced forwards until they came into contact with the wall. Mustering all their strength, they pounded against it over and over, leaving dents in the metal. Chris slammed his fist into it one more time, cursing when a searing pain shot through his wrist, and then cheering as a crack became visible in the wall. Prising it open, Dom ripped open the wall until they could see through to the corridor. Obviously the zetas weren't that technically advanced.

Matt's screaming could be heard much clearer now, although it was growing faint and choked. The pair hurried down the corridor, kicking doors open as they went to try and find him. When they reached the one that wouldn't budge, no matter how hard they hit it, they knew it was the one.

Matt could hear them kicking the door from the inside, and the zeta was growing ever more irritated. He'd tried to reason with the zeta, explaining that he hadn't thought they were real and hadn't really revealed any information at all. He tried to explain that, by capturing three rockstars and a whole arena full of people, they were drawing much more attention to themselves. He tried to tell it that nobody had believed him and that they were better of leaving him alone, but it wouldn't listen to him.

So then he resorted to screaming.

It turned out that the zeta's ears were incredibly sensitive, and Matt could reach the right pitch to damage its ears. It was currently gritting its sharp teeth against the pain as it attempted to strap Matt to the examination table. They were approximately the same height and weight, although the zeta had more power in its wiry muscles. Matt was currently winning over him, as it was inhibited by its sensitivity, but his voice was wearing. It was difficult to keep up the falsetto for so long, and every time he took in a breath, the alien pushed him a little further down onto the table. It wouldn't be long before his vocal cords got too sore and he was overpowered.

Knowing that Dom and Chris were near, he decided to try and scream something intelligible. Not wanting to waste his breath, he thought it through carefully before speaking. Scanning the room around him, he noticed that the only way to open the door was a small button on the side of the wall beside it. The handle of the door disappeared unless this button was pressed. Matt knew instinctively that the pair would be able to force the door open if only he could push out the handle.

"DOMINIC! CHRIS!" he screeched, hoping that they could understand his wailing. "Force the handle!" He inhaled deeply and sung as high as he could, forcing his way off the table. He shoved the zeta out of the way and slammed his hand on the button, the door handle popping out of the smooth surface. He immediately heard the handle jiggling as the pair threw their weight against it, desperately forcing it to one side. He reached for it himself, trying to pull with them whilst knowing that the zeta kept the key on him. He didn't fancy fighting him just in case its blood was poisonous or something.

Who knew?

The door flew open just as the creature's long, spindly fingers closed around Matthew's neck.

"Stop right there!" Dom yelled, the creature glancing up at him as he increased the pressure on Matt's neck. The smaller man grabbed and scrabbled at his neck, trying to pull the hands away, and Chris threw himself at the creature, his weight knocking it to the crowd. Matt went flying with it, unnatural strength keeping its hands around his neck. He pawed at them helplessly, his breathing cut off, and could only watch as Dom lunged for him and ripped him out of the alien's grasp.

Matt lay panting on the floor as Dom and Chris pinned the alien to the ground and started interrogating it. It fought against them, but no avail, instead simply hissing in their faces and refusing to answer.

"Said my conspiracy theories were threatening them," Matt choked it, pulling himself into a sitting position. "Wanted to kill me to 'make themselves safe'. Utter bullshit, as you can tell." The creature writhed beneath the men.

"You'll pay for this," it hissed. "You'll understand what I mean in a few years." Chris slammed its head back down against the floor.

"Listen to me," he barked. "You're going to leave us alone. We'll let you go, as long as you promise that you won't mess with us, or anybody else on the Earth, again. And that you let go everybody you've captured. They're of no use to you, and they're not your possessions."

Although Dom and Matt were way of trusting the creature, they knew there was no other option but to agree with Chris. This was their only ticket back to Earth and the safety of their homes, friends and family. A bitter homesickness settled in their hearts as they watched Chris bargaining with the scaly creature.

"Fine," it spat. "I'll take you back. We won't bother you again. Now let me go." As soon as they pulled their hands away, the creature sprung off and scuttled out of the room. They followed hurriedly after it, Dom smirking to himself. Obviously this little fella had too much pride that they'd suddenly blemished.

The zeta complied, as much as they didn't expect it, and returned them all safely to Earth, on one account: everybody who witnessed the occasion wasn't allowed to speak of it. No more would be spoken about the situation from either party, and then they would be allowed to roam their planets freely.

As soon as they were returned to Earth, Dom fell to his knees in an attempt to hug the ground, tears of joy wetting the ground beneath him. Matt collapsed onto the floor beside him and closed his eyes, trying to make sure his head was in the right place once again-or, at least, the place it always had been.

Watching them, Chris shook his head. The impossible had happened, and then the even more impossible had happened-they'd survived an alien abduction. He wondered briefly to himself if anymore of Matt's crazy theories and speculations were true, and then decided it was probably best not to think about it.

From 'her' throne in the Buckingham Palace, the Queen laughed at a programme on the TV, a rosy tongue slithering between her lips.


End file.
